Executive Design of the Façade Systems. Typologies and Technologies of the Advanced Building Envelopes

The study, developed inside the experimental laboratory Material Balance Research within the Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering-ABC Department at the Politecnico di Milano, examines the advanced façade systems according to the constitutive and typological characters, as well as the functional and applicative requirements such as the expressive, constructive and interactive criteria towards the environmental, perceptive and energy conditions. The work involves to examine the typological and technological constitution of the principal advanced façade systems in the contemporary design and experimental scenario, proposing itself as a knowledge and operational tool currently lacking in the technical literature of the sector at an international level. The work considers the field of advanced façade systems in a scientific way, constituting a support for the study and the executive design. Compared to the pre-existing literature on envelope systems, the work investigates in detail, in an analytical form, the constitution of the components on a typological and geometrical, functional and constructive level, on the basis of the documents and knowledges acquired from the essential contemporary production and construction references. At the same time, the work is configured in manual form as a reference for understanding and application with respect to traditional and complex façade systems. The study is aimed at researchers, designers and, in general, operators in the field of the advanced façade systems, considering that the level of composition of the work is directed at experts in the specific matter, who require a tool of a high explanatory and operational level. This is not a basic text, but a work that goes beyond the literature expressed on the subject at an architectural, descriptive or narrative level. The main topics concern the technological determination of lightweight prefabricated external curtain wall envelopes, according to the development of façade components, also considering multi-material relationships and specialized layering. The thematic in-depth study focuses on structural, connection and interface references related to the functional and application requirements articulated with respect to the main advanced curtain wall types. For each main type of façade, the work provides explanations and scientific information for investigating and designing the advanced façades according to the characteristics of the mullions and transoms façade system (stick system), of the structural sealant glazing façade system, of the unit façade system, of the suspended façade system and of the double skin façade system. The explanation is made with the aid of analytical insights into the physical, connective and interface constitution, supported by details and documents acquired from the advanced production and construction sectors. The book is envisaged to become the first work in a series of texts on the technical and scientific study of the advanced façade systems, planning to deal, in the future, with the contents related to the building site and construction phases, the specific constitution of the production methods, and an in-depth study of the enclosure and cladding materials. The book, intended as a basis for scientific, academy and professional study, is proposed as a useful tool within university courses, specialized and master’s courses, as well as a support for the preparation of expert technicians in the field of façade systems.